Eye Tests

Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of sight tests undertaken in each of the last nine quarters.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
Statistics on NHS sight tests paid for by the general ophthalmic services are collected on a six-monthly basis. The figures for the latest available two years are as follows: ----------------------------
|Great Britain             |
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|April 1988—September 1988 |
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|October 1988—March 1989   |
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|April 1989—September 19891|
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|October 1989—March 19901  |
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|April 1990—September 19901|
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Since 1 April 1989 many people who are not entitled to NHS sight tests (about two thirds of the population) have had private sight tests. The Department collects no figures relating to these tests: however, an independent NOP survey commissioned by the Department indicated that the total number of sight tests (private and NHS) during the first quarter of 1990 was at the level that could have been expected if trends up to 1987 had been projected forward.